Very preterm kindergartners face learning trouble
URL of this page: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_116816.html(*this news item will not be available after 12/22/2011)
Friday, September 23, 2011
By Anne Harding
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kindergartners who were born extremely prematurely are much more likely to have learning problems than their peers who were born at term, even if they do not have overall intellectual impairment, new research shows.
Yet more than a third of children in the study with learning problems were not enrolled in special education programs, Dr. H. Gerry Taylor of the University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland and his colleagues found.
The results underscore the importance of continuing to track these children as they reach preschool and school age, to monitor them for learning difficulties and provide interventions as needed, Dr. Taylor told Reuters Health.
Children born before 28 weeks of pregnancy or weighing less than 1,000 grams now routinely survive, but with a high risk of developmental problems, the researchers write in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Their study focused on 148 extremely preterm children born at their center from 2001 to 2003 and a comparison group of 111 classmates who were born at term and at normal birth weight.
The preemies had lower average scores on spelling and math tests, the researchers found.
Just over half of them weren't testable or did not reach basic levels in arithmetic, compared to 21 percent of the kindergartners in the comparison group. And teachers were four times as likely to rate the preterm kids as having substandard learning progress in written languages, and seven times as likely to give them substandard learning progress reports in math.
Among the 70 preemies who scored below 85 -- with 85 to 115 considered the "normal" range -- on one or more achievement tests, 26 did not have an individual education plan.
In the extremely preterm kids, delayed development at 20 months was a risk factor for learning problems in kindergarten, Taylor noted. Other risk factors for learning problems in these children included a poorer family and being born before 25 weeks of pregnancy.
"The study was designed to really focus on kindergarten because of the importance of identifying problems early and hopefully intervening to stave off problems that might develop," Taylor said.
He added that performance in kindergarten is the best way to predict future academic success. "I'd prefer that we go back even further and start working with these kids on their developmental skills as preschoolers."
Frequently, Taylor said, health providers stop following preemies by the time they are two or three years old.
"There can occur a kind of disconnect at that point," he added. "Families may not always be aware of the need for continued follow-up as the kids approach school age."
Taylor said one way to ensure continued monitoring for these children is to make sure they have a "medical home." And keeping track of them at school would not be difficult.
"Teachers are actually quite aware of children's learning problems," he explained. "A very effective way to screen would be simply to ask how children are progressing in the curriculum."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/pk58K8 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, September, 2011.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kindergartners who were born extremely prematurely are much more likely to have learning problems than their peers who were born at term, even if they do not have overall intellectual impairment, new research shows.
Yet more than a third of children in the study with learning problems were not enrolled in special education programs, Dr. H. Gerry Taylor of the University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland and his colleagues found.
The results underscore the importance of continuing to track these children as they reach preschool and school age, to monitor them for learning difficulties and provide interventions as needed, Dr. Taylor told Reuters Health.
Children born before 28 weeks of pregnancy or weighing less than 1,000 grams now routinely survive, but with a high risk of developmental problems, the researchers write in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Their study focused on 148 extremely preterm children born at their center from 2001 to 2003 and a comparison group of 111 classmates who were born at term and at normal birth weight.
The preemies had lower average scores on spelling and math tests, the researchers found.
Just over half of them weren't testable or did not reach basic levels in arithmetic, compared to 21 percent of the kindergartners in the comparison group. And teachers were four times as likely to rate the preterm kids as having substandard learning progress in written languages, and seven times as likely to give them substandard learning progress reports in math.
Among the 70 preemies who scored below 85 -- with 85 to 115 considered the "normal" range -- on one or more achievement tests, 26 did not have an individual education plan.
In the extremely preterm kids, delayed development at 20 months was a risk factor for learning problems in kindergarten, Taylor noted. Other risk factors for learning problems in these children included a poorer family and being born before 25 weeks of pregnancy.
"The study was designed to really focus on kindergarten because of the importance of identifying problems early and hopefully intervening to stave off problems that might develop," Taylor said.
He added that performance in kindergarten is the best way to predict future academic success. "I'd prefer that we go back even further and start working with these kids on their developmental skills as preschoolers."
Frequently, Taylor said, health providers stop following preemies by the time they are two or three years old.
"There can occur a kind of disconnect at that point," he added. "Families may not always be aware of the need for continued follow-up as the kids approach school age."
Taylor said one way to ensure continued monitoring for these children is to make sure they have a "medical home." And keeping track of them at school would not be difficult.
"Teachers are actually quite aware of children's learning problems," he explained. "A very effective way to screen would be simply to ask how children are progressing in the curriculum."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/pk58K8 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, September, 2011.
Reuters Health
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